


24

by leonard_mccoy



Category: The Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Graphic depictions of addiction and withdrawal symptoms, If You Squint - Freeform, Tessa Gray (mentioned) - Freeform, Will Herondale - Freeform, Written from Personal Experience, can see very clearly, heronstairs, implied probable major character death, jem carstairs - Freeform, long story, or like, spoilers for The Clockwork Princess (sort of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 07:40:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17055836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leonard_mccoy/pseuds/leonard_mccoy
Summary: After a week without yin fen, Jem Carstairs is dying, and having the drug rush back into his bloodstream only accelerates the process.





	24

The pain only seemed to increase as Jem tightened his grip on the sheets, the  _yin fen_  pulsing through him, turning his veins to liquid fire. He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t understand a single thing being said to him. He knew that somewhere outside the torture his brain had drowned him in was Will…his  _parabatai_ , Will, his friend, his other half. Will was out there, screaming for him. He knew it, and yet it only made things worse. He couldn’t get up, couldn’t even part his lips to reassure his best friend that he was alright. He couldn’t do it. All he could do was lie there as the drug ate away at him, turned his clammy cold skin flaming hot. He’d gone too long without it.

Now he had to pay the price.

Will could only watch, his heart pounding madly in his chest. He wanted to do more, but what could he do? Jem was dying, he knew that, but having spent a week without the  _yin_   _fen_ …Will found that he could blame himself for Jem’s condition. He should have known that his  _parabatai_  was hiding something. And he should have figured it out sooner.

Tears blurred Will’s vision and he collapsed into a chair, shakily pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes.  _Jem will be alright_  he furiously told himself.  _He’ll be alright because I will not be able to bear it if he won’t._

Jem was drowning. He felt as though he was falling faster than he’d ever fallen before. His eyes had rolled back into his head. Keeping them open used too much energy. Even his tight grip on the sheets eventually loosened. His body beneath the cold white linen was thin and fragile from a lifetime of swallowing the bitter silver powder. A lifetime of pain and suffering. A lifetime of regret and a slow death, a slow death he was only weeks…possibly even days..away from.

By now he knew that. He’d die young; he knew he could not continue. The question was…how long could he hold on? For Will? For Tessa?

The clock was ticking and as the hours dwindled away, James Carstairs accepted his coming fate.


End file.
